playing favourites
by gildedbutterflies
Summary: But you, darling, you are my most favourite of all. /Mary&Sybil/


_So this was written for a LJ comment ficathon from the prompt '_Mary and Sybil_ - 'But you, darling, you are my most favourite of all.'__ Mary and Sybil are one of my favourite relationships on the show so I felt the need to write it, it's complete crap because I wrote it in 40 minutes but I haven't uploaded anything in about a year so..._**  
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**Playing Favourites**

Sybil is born on a sunny day in the height of August when even the consistently gray England is engulfed in heat and the slightest breeze is seen as sweet relief. This is quite the opposite to both Mary and Edith who were brought into the world during icy days in December and February respectively.

When Mary thinks she is terribly grown up although not many people would agree, somebody makes a joke at the dinner table about how there must be a correlation in Mary and Edith's frosty dispositions as compared to Sybil's constant sunny temperament, apparently there is something incredibly witty about this comment as a laugh resounds around the table. Mary does not find this amusing in the slightest.

Nobody could accuse Edith of being a cheerful child, but she has been assured by many people that she is a charming young lady. Unfortunately her furrowed brow and slightly upturned lip seem to make this quip all the more comical and the volume of the laughs around her is raised once more. She bites the inside of her lip hard enough that it almost bleeds and resists the great temptation to storm out of the room, Mama told her that nobody appreciates dramatics at the dinner table. Well, other than Grand-mama. It does nothing for ones digestion.

Mary is seven years old when Sybil is born and she absolutely does not want another sister, thank you very much. She already has one of those and they have a tendency to pull your hair and steal your favourite dolls. No, Mary has decided that she will absolutely be having a baby brother this time. She is attempting to climb a tree in the garden and warding off disapproving looks from her five year old sister when Carson comes to find them. She catches him before he does her and instantly drops the small distance from the tree she has managed to clamber up and practically throws herself on the floor, sitting on her hands. Mary thinks he looks tired, she notices a stain on the right hand side of his shirt which she finds incredibly odd as Carson is never anything but pristine. However there is pleasure hiding behind his kind eyes as he speaks to them

"Lady Mary, Lady Edith - come inside and say hello to your sister." He pauses and stares at Mary, a familiar amusement that he so often wears when he looks at her crossing his face. "Have Mrs Hughes wash your hands first."

Edith gives a small sound of pleasure and begins to dash inside, before seemingly catching herself and slowing to a somewhat more dignified walk. Mary stays exactly were she is and scowls at Carson who rewards her with a long suffering sigh and an expectant look. There is a long wait before she eventually decides to share her sorrows with him.

"We all wanted a boy - me and Mama and Papa" she says with a mixture of scorn and disappointment. There is a brief pause as she muses on something "well perhaps not Edith, but she doesn't count." Carson is told all this with all the contemptuousness that only a seven year old can quite achieve. Before he can open his mouth to respond he is interrupted "I shall simply ignore her and that will make her quite sorry." Mary is quite sure that Carson is restraining laughter for a few short seconds which only serves to make her all the angrier. She is rather embarrassed to find that tears are beginning to form in her dark eyes, the unfairness of it all! She didn't want another sister and to Mary, this is the kind of terrible news that comes to a child who doesn't often receive it.

"Now, now Lady Mary. There is no need for tears." Carson tells her as he paces over to her. She continues looking down at the perfectly trimmed lawn with shimmering eyes until a hot tear rolls off her cheek and onto the grass. Carson gives another slightly smaller sigh and looking around, he warily lowers himself to the ground. Mary looks at him in surprise. "Is it really so bad to have another sister?" he asks her softly. "Do you dislike Edith so much?" Carson can always make Mary feel ashamed in ways that nobody can come close to achieving.

"Well...no. I suppose I don't, not really. But she is most tiresome and she dropped Sybil in the lake." Carson raises his eyebrow marginally, slightly confused by the newest factor of the conversation

"...Sybil, my lady?" he gently presses. This time it's Mary who lets out an exasperated sigh as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"My dolly Carson, my favourite dolly, with the blue eyes." She looks at him imploringly, "a brother wouldn't have done that, they don't like dolly's you know." Carson finally lets out a small chuckle which makes Mary feel ever so slightly better.

"No, perhaps boys may not like dolls" he leans in conspiratorially closer to her "but can you keep a secret?" Mary nods eagerly, if there is something she likes more than climbing trees, it's secrets. "Boys are far more tiresome than girls are." She gives him a suspicious look but the tears have long since halted, so he continues. "And you know Lady Mary, if it were a boy you wouldn't need to be responsible for him."

"Responsible?"

"Oh yes, you'll be expected to help look after your new sister. After all, you're such a grown up girl now and she'll need someone to look up to and to take care of her." Mary is now gazing up at him with eagerness concealed in her eyes. "Do you think you're up to the job Lady Mary?" he asks her with such seriousness that she feels a great sense of importance come upon her, she responds in an equally solemn voice.

"Yes, I'm quite sure I am".

* * *

><p>When she finally makes her grand entrance into Mama's bedroom after taking her own slow pace to wash her hands and insist that her hair must be brushed before her new sister can see it, Carson is already back in the room speaking in hushed tones with Mama and Papa as Edith stands on her tiptoes over the new crib.<p>

Mary is instantly wary that she will be admonished for the the time she has taken to arrive and has several reasonable responses planned in her head. But none are needed as her Papa sweeps her into his arms and kisses her cheek as she giggles cheerfully.

"Darling" her Mama says, who looks paler than usual and very tired but her words are still laced with a quietly joyful tone. "Your sister can't wait to meet you."

Her father lowers her to the ground and she takes seven trepidatious steps towards the dove white crib as Edith who can't really see over it anyway, politely steps aside and clambers up besides their Mama. She holds her breath as she stands on her tiptoes and her nose brushes the wood as the peers over the edge. What instantly strikes her is that her sister has darker skin and longer eyelashes than anyone else and she loves her immediately. She tries to reach her own skinny arm into the crib to touch her, but can't quite reach. She is suddenly elevated into the air and her Papa is hovering her over the crib, she brushes her finger over her sisters cheek and it feels even nicer than her favourite dress. She loves her even more.

"Oh me next." Edith says as she scrambles away from their Mama and tugs on Papa's leg as everyone in the room chuckles.

"I'm not finished" Mary says amongst Edith's protests, sticking her tongue out at her. Papa eventually reaches a compromise by placing the baby in Cora's arms as both Mary and Edith snuggled up on either side of her and gaze at their newest family member.

"She looks just like my dolly." Mary finally announces, breaking the silence. Her Papa seems to find something amusing in this statement as he lets out a quiet laugh,

"Darling, you have so many dolls I would be shocked if she didn't bear some resemblance to at least one of them."

"Yes, but she looks exactly like Sybil" she says as Carson represses a snort from behind his gloved hand. She throws a glower his way before aiming an even harsher one at Edith "my favourite dolly that Edith dropped in the lake." Her parents both give sounds of remembrance, that is one debacle that won't be forgotten for a good few years. "I hope she has blue eyes." Mary finishes softly. Her parents share a look.

"You know, I think Sybil is a fine name." her Papa says after a while as her mother nods in agreement

"Oh yes a wonderful name, don't you think so Carson?"

"A marvelous name indeed" he resounds.

"Would you like it if we named her Sybil darling?" her Mama asks her gently. Mary gazes in amazement at her as Edith lets out an indignant sound.

"Why can't I name her?" she asks with a waver in her voice. Her forehead is kissed as her mother assures her that she will absolutely be helping to choose the middle name which greatly pacifies her and she begins reeling off some of her favourite names. Her Parents look kindly down at her as she looks at Carson. He gives her a solemn nod and that sense of importance fills her once again.

"Yes. Yes I think her name is most certainly Sybil." she announces to the room.

Mary eagerly awaits for her sister to open her eyes and many days later she is filled with smug satisfaction to see the clearest of blue's peering back up at her. Yes, her name was most certainty Sybil.

* * *

><p>Mary is thirteen and far too old for climbing tree's and other such nonsense when she comes across her youngest sister in the garden doing exactly that. Mary ignores the twinge of nostalgia to see her in the tree she used to so often be found in, she also ignores the twinge of indignation to see her sister has gotten higher than she ever seemed to.<p>

She shouts across the garden for her to climb down immediately but somewhat ironically gives her such a shock that she looses her footing and plummets to the ground, almost it seems in slow motion. Mary doesn't even hear the scream of surprise that comes out of her own mouth. Her youngest sisters little blue clad body lies at the foot of the tree, looking almost close to the doll she was named for.

She forgets all teachings of being a lady and races across the space to reach her sister, heart in her throat. Throwing herself on the ground, wetting the skirt of her pretty dress with the dew from the grass she reaches towards Sybil who has already begun to sit up, clutching her elbow with tears welling up and spilling out of her blue eyes. Her pink lips are scrunched up and her little fists are beginning to clench.

"Oh darling." Mary says in pure relief, repeating this several times as she pulls her youngest sister onto her lap. She strokes her soft dark hair and lets her cry into her chest, rocking her back and forth and attempting to steady her own heartbeat that still feels as though its about to burst out her own chest. "Why is nobody watching you? Where is Mrs Grayson?" she asks scathingly, referring to Sybil's nanny. Her panic slowly giving way to fury.

"Oh..oh..please don't be angry Mary" Sybil manages between sobs, "she wanted me to play with my dolls and you know how they bore me so...so...I ran away from her." she finally whimpers out, her sky blue eyes burning into Mary's own dark ones. "Don't be angry Mary." she repeats in a small voice. Mary isn't sure how anyone could be angry with her sister when she gazes at you in such a way.

"Oh I'm not angry with you my darling, although I am very angry with Mrs Grayson, running away or not. Just suppose you had fallen and landed much worse and there was nobody here to help you. Why Papa would have her neck for it, if I didn't get there first." she tells Sybil cradling her in her lap. Sybil lets out a watery giggle

"Would you have Mrs Grayson's neck for me Mary, even though she's very big?" she asks her

"Of course I would, you're my Sybil. I would have anyone's neck for you. No matter how big they were" Mary responds, pressing a kiss to her tan cheek. Sybil pulls a daisy from the grass and twirls it around, before attempting to twist it into Mary's dark locks, not dissimilar to her own.

"Would you for Papa and Mama and Edith and Grand-mama?" she asks, beginning to list off all their closest relatives. Mary runs her fingers across Sybil's cheek and is struck with Déjà vu, she rests her own cheek on her sisters head. There is a long pause as Sybil continues her attempt of weaving the flower into her sisters curls

"Oh... I expect so. But you, darling, you are my most favourite of all.' Mary finally tells her. As Sybil pauses

"You are my most favourite too Mary" she echoes her words. Mary feels irrationally proud

"Really?"

"Oh yes, well, I do love Edith and Mama and Papa and Grand-mama very much. But, well, you read to me and taught me how to ride and you let me wear your favourite jewels and even Mama won't do that." Sybil hesitates before telling her eldest sister "And I don't think Edith would have Mrs Grayson's neck for me." This causes Mary to burst into laughter and sweep her sister up before taking her hand and guiding her into the house.

"Oh she would my darling. Only for you though, I expect."

Twenty minutes later she has left a slightly bruised Sybil happily harassing the new Mrs Patmore for some snacks before dinner.

Twenty two minutes later she is stood in front of Carson fiercely demanding Mrs Grayson's firing, effective immediately, he raises an eyebrow as she somewhat hopefully asks if he would rather she did it herself. This is the eighth nanny in six years, five of whom haven't met the standards of Lady Mary to adequately take care of her beloved sister and somewhat unhelpfully this is an area her parents seem keen to indulge her in. She almost has reign equal to Carson when it comes to the hiring and firing of the help of Lady Sybil. Sometimes Carson thinks his little speech all those years ago worked a little too well.

None the less. Mrs Grayson is gone by dinner.

_Please be awesome and review :) _


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